A Fate Unchanged: A Fable Story
by Queen Freak
Summary: How would you explain it when your entire world is suddenly turned upside down? When not all else fails, but everything does? Jetta, a 17 year old girl, must save her own life as her only family is murdered. Left alone to die, Jetta is taken by Maze back to the Hero's Guild. Taken in by the guild, she grows up to be a Hero. Now only one question is left. Which path will she chose?
1. Chapter 1

**A Fate Unchanged: A Fable Story**

**A/N:** Some of you may think that this sounds very familiar. And it probably is because I've rewritten it. And obviously, 'The Hero of Oakvale' is not a boy. I hope that everyone enjoys.

How would you explain it when your entire world is suddenly turned upside down? When not all else fails, but everything does? Jetta, a 17 year old girl, must save her own life as her only family is murdered. Left alone to die, Jetta is taken by Maze back to the Hero's Guild. Taken in by the guild, she grows up to be a Hero. Now only on question is left. Which path will she chose?

All Jetta could hear was a repetitive, slow thud. It thundered in her ears. She could have sworn that she could feel it. Was it a pulse? That meant that she had survived. Attempting to laugh, she was hit by a sudden pain. It had made her cough, further hurting her already sore throat. After a few moments the pain dulled to a bearable amount.

Images were racing through her head. The last thing she could remember was trying to run away from her village. Jetta thought and cringed as she pictured the look on her fellow villagers as they were killed, raped, and tortured. But why was she running? Hadn't some one been chasing her?

Slowly, Jetta opened her eyes. Moving her head slowly side to side, her neck was to stiff to just look around, Jetta noticed she was inside of a small room. There were shelves with potions, some that she'd never seen. Along with her own bed, there were six other beds around her. The windows were covered in a thick cloth, making it interminable to tell what time it was. Realization hit her, and her heart started to beat wildly. Where was she? This was not Oakvale. She didn't know where in Avo she was. Just as she was about to force herself out of bed to investigate, she heard someone coming down the hall from her left. Quickly, she closed her eyes and made herself breath shallow breaths. Listening, she found there was more than one set of footsteps. And two unknown voices.

The sounds of a bed creaking to the left of her, told her that someone big had sat down. "Really Maze, I don' see why you find ta girl so intrestin'." The voice was deep, and he held an accent she had never heard before.

A sigh came from the end of her bed. Her best guess would be that it would be Maze, who the other just mentioned. "Thunder," Now she knew the others name, "if you had seen what I did, you would be interested too. In all honesty, I've never seen anything like it before. At least not in someone as young and untrained as she is," Maze said, looking at the young girl on the bed. Trying to figure out how someone who looked so frightening then, looked so fragile and broken now.

Very slowly, Jetta peeked through her eyelashes just enough to see who was talking. In front of her was a man, bigger than any other man she had ever seen. He had blue markings that appeared to glow all over body. Some were on his forehead, his chin, cheeks, and who knows where else. She looked at his eyes, noticing that he was still looking at her.

The man to her left was just as big if not bigger. He wore strange armor, and his skin was darker than any she had seen before. He carried so many weapons on his person, it should be believed he had a mini arsenal. Slowly, that way it wouldn't be noticeable, she closed her eyes.

A humph came from the man sitting to her left. "Well, why don' you just tell me what she did and I'll be the judge of 'at," Thunder said,standing up. Jetta, who was curious herself, held her breath, waiting for the strange man to answer.

"I've already told you Thunder. I want to speak to the Guild Master about it first." Thunder sighed in defeat. "Besides," Maze continued, his tone lightened up, "If our guest here would stop acting as though she was asleep, maybe she could tell you herself." Maze stared at her, a small smile on his face.

"Yes, I believe that would help a great deal. Wouldn't you agree Thunder?" A new voice appeared at the doorway. Jetta had already opened her eyes, knowing she had been caught. It was an elder man, half the size as the others. "Hello. I bet that a few questions are buzzing in your head right now, aren't they?" He asked, chuckling. Jetta didn't move. She was still unsure of the intentions of the men here with he. A slightly sad look appeared on the elder man's face. "Well you are at the Hero's Guild," he said as Jetta's eyes widened. The Hero's Guild? Why in the world would she be here? "And I, am the Guild master. Now if you could please tell us you name?" the Guild Master said, smiling at her gently, trying to coax the girl into relaxing.

Jetta looked at the three men before her. What in the world was she doing here? What about her mother? Was she alright? So caught up in her thoughts, she almost forgot to answer his question. "My name is Jetta," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She almost gasped. It had never hurt this much to try and talk before. Placing her fingers to her throat, she could feel the tender spots that had formed around her neck. She winced slightly from the pain. No wonder it was hard to speak.

Everyone looked puzzled, except for Maze, but it was Thunder who talked first. "Come on girl, speak up an' tell us yur' name." He and the others in the room was waiting for her answer. She looked around sheepishly, and then moved her fingers over her hand, making a writing motion. They had seemed surprised.

"You know how to write?" Maze said, his voice questioned. Jetta nodded, not truly surprised. Most men from her town didn't really know how to read or write, much less a young girl. The Guild master quickly grabbed a quill and parchment off of a desk she had just noticed and handed them to her. In less than perfect writing, she finally wrote down her name and handed it back to the Guild master.

"Jetta is it?" he asked looking at her for conformation. Jetta nodded and smiled slightly. The Guild master smiled too. "Well Jetta," he looked at the Maze and Thunder before his eyes came back to her, "If you would excuse us for a moment, I need to talk to them. Don't worry though," he said in a pleasant tone, " We will return." With that be beckoned the two men to follow him as he left the room.

"You are saying that like it is a good thing," mumbled Thunder. The guild master chuckled and continued to walk. Smiling one last time at Jetta, the guild master walked out of sight. Jetta closed her eyes, trying to concentrate, just trying to remember what had happened earlier. Her eyes starting to get heavy, as she was still tired, and she had to blink a few times to wake herself up. But to no avail, as sleep overtook her.

Flames burned brightly outside of Jetta's window. "Mom?" she screamed, running to the lifeless body that was splayed on the floor. Jetta held the limp body close to her sobbing over the broken form. The women kept begging her to run, with what little energy that left, trying to save her only daughter. "No! I can't leave you!," Jetta cried. "I can't!" She kept repeating, crying into the long tresses that were so much like her own.

Jetta could hear foot steps and knew someone was coming back to finish the job. "Please Jetta, run," Her mother now pleaded, "Run!" With all of the power that she had in her, Jetta gently sat her mothers head down, and kissed her forehead.

"I'll be back for you," Jetta promised, her voice shaky. "I won't leave you." With that she ran up the stairs to get out where she couldn't be seen.

Just then, she could hear one of the doors down stairs explode open. "Where did she go you bitch?" the bandit voice boomed. She could hear her mother reply, swearing that she would never tell. "Then you're useless." After that, the only thing that she heard, was her mothers scream.

"Mom?" Jetta yelled, and ran towards the top of the stairs. "Mom?" She cried. Please just hold on, she thought. Then, the man addressed her.

"Your Mother can't save you now," the man said, letting out a harsh laugh. The sound of metal being drug across the floor could be hard, but Jetta was more worried about the voice. Since he didn't yell, she could recognize it. It was one she had not heard in years. Jetta gasped.

It was impossible. He was killed by the bandits. Her mother told her so. Jetta took a few steps down the stairs to make sure her ears wasn't playing tricks on her. In front of her was a bulky man, dressed in rough bandit gear. Tears started to well up in her eyes. Standing in front of her was a man she hoped that she would never see again. A man she believed was dead.

"Father?" Jetta asked in disbelief , tears falling onto the floor. The man smirked, moving slowly up the stairs.

"So," he said taking another step towards her, "You remember me after all?" Another step. He smiled up at her.

Jetta's face quickly sobered up with harsh realization. "What did you do to my mother?" she demanded, holding her chin steady, trying to making herself look less scared than she actually was. Her father now had a sadistic smile on his face. One more step up. He was only one step away from her now, making them close enough distance to easily touch.

"She's gone," his eyes now level with Jetta's, he leaned over his lips close to her ear. "And she's never coming back." Suddenly, he punched her, hard, in the stomach. The impact of the hit sent Jetta flying out the window behind her, and she screamed all the way down. The fall had knocked the wind out of her, and she had to take big gasp of air just to breath. She didn't move, trying to regain her breath. spitting the blood from her mouth, she finally looked around. For the first time she truly was able to see the damage that the bandits had done to her village. Every building and house she could see was on fire. People were running in fear trying to save themselves and their children.

Jetta put her hands on the ground to push her self up, but screamed in pain. The fall had broken her wrist and arm. Rolling herself onto her stomach, she stood up on her knees. The creak of her front door, that she was all to familiar with, nearly took her breath again in fear. Raising to her feet, she ran. She didn't know where, but her feet were carrying her where ever they wanted, just trying to get away.

"Get back here Jetta!" her father yelled, enraged that she was so far ahead of him. By now, he had chased her out of Oakvale, and into Barrow Fields, almost to Darkwood Weir. Unknown to either of them, they were being followed.

Her body was to exhausted and broken to go on,and Jetta fell to the ground on her back, her fathers teasing voice still behind her. "That's right, girl. You just stop running. You know I'm going to catch you either way," her father said, catching up to where she was. "Now come here," he said grabbing a handful of Jetta's black hair. "Thought you could get away from me, huh? Stupid little bitch. Just like your mother," he said. Then he slapped her across the face, the force making her cry out in pain.

"What made you think that you could get away from me? Since the moment you were born you belonged to me!" her father yelled, hitting her again.

Jetta was in tears, trying her hardest to pull away. It was near impossible with the broken bones. Why was he doing this to her? She just didn't understand it. Quickly she was starting to lose sight. The pain was becoming unbearable. "Stop," Jetta pleaded, her voice barely above a whisper. His hand stopped in mid air.

His face had become enraged. He wrapped his hands her throat squeezing enough to block her air. "What did you just say?" he said squeezing even tighter. She ignored the pain in her wrist and arm as she started to claw at his hands, trying to pull them away. Somehow, she managed to loosen his grip.

"STOP!," Jetta screamed as loud as she could, finally pushing him away. Her father seemed shocked. His eyebrows knitted together. He couldn't understand how this girl, who could barely move, was able to push him away with such force that he'd stumble.

"I don't know how you did that, but it will not happen again," he threatened, pulling his sword from its sheath.

Jetta looked him down, a fire in her eyes. "I will not be killed by the likes of you," she stood up, staring him in the eyes as best as she could while trying not to fall back down.

He merely laughed. "You think you can beat me? Ha! You're nothing but a little bitch, just like your mother." He smirked. "Do you want to know what really happened? Why I really left?" Jetta told him that she didn't care, that he was obviously pure evil. He continued anyway. "Your mother and I meet when we were still young, teenage fools. We knew nothing of the world, of all the dangers that lay outside of our sheltered pathetic lives. Your mother and I thought we were in love. We were wrong.

"Years ago when you were still just a child, barely up to my knees, Oakvale was attacked, just like tonight. Do you remember that? It had been the day before that I found your mother seeking," he stopped for a second, thinking of a word to fit his meaning, "comfort from another man. After I found out about it, I joined those bandits." His eyes stared straight at Jetta. "Now tell me. Why would she do that? What would make her do that to me?" he barked at her, clenching his fist. "It was because of you!" he yelled, punching Jetta hard across the face, making her fall to the ground a good few feet away. "YOU had to go and tell her about me and Caden! It was because of YOU that your mother slept with another man!" he yelled, stepping towards Jetta. She tried to use her legs to back up against the boulder behind her. The sturdiness was the only comfort that she had right now.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have done it," Jetta choked out, still backing up. He moved to stand above her, glaring down at her frail form.

He leaned his face down towards hers. "Your mother wouldn't let hurt me hurt you when I had the chance," He told her, grabbing her already bruised face in his strong hands. "But now, she's dead and she can't do anything. And I even have a punishment already planed out for you," he laughed at this. "It was because of you that your mother became a whore." He leaned down again, his face level with hers. "Now, it will be your turn," he said. Suddenly he lunged at her, pinning her to the cold rough surface she had only moments ago thought of as comfort. Quickly, he started at her pants.

"NO!" Jetta couldn't stop screaming, understanding his intent. "You monster! Stop it!" her plea fell on deaf ears. It was then that she realized that he wasn't going to stop. She had to do something she knew, when she felt him pull her pants off.

"STOP!" she screamed again. And this time, he did. She no longer felt his body on top of hers. Crying out in relief, she looked over towards her fathers limp body. Not even caring what had just happened, Jetta didn't fight it when her body refuse to stay awake. The last thing she could see was a shadowy figure, coming towards her. Her guardian angle.

"Jetta? Are you awake my dear?" It was the Guild master. Blinking slowly to clear her vision, Jetta gave a strained nod of her head, letting him know that she was. "So how are you feeling? Better I hope," he said with a small smile. She grabbed the parchment that the Guild master had left by her bed.

"Still hurts, but will manage," she wrote, trying not to smear the ink. After the Guild master read it, he handed the paper back to her.

"Well I'm glad," his eyes on her. "Jetta, Maze has told me what he saw. Do you remember what happened?" his eyes were now gentle, as if remembering a sad story. Which in truth, Jetta could guess what he had heard wasn't very happy. Slowly she nodded her head. "Well then. I suppose that you would like to know how you father, um..., was removed from you?" He asked smiling, trying to remove the chill in the air. She looked around sheepishly, then pointed over to the man who just appeared at the doorway, Maze. The guild master laughed. "No, not quite." He paused and smiled at her, "It was you Jetta. Maze was just the one who took you away."

Jetta was about to state her disbelief, when she began another painful coughing fit. This time, when she pulled her hands away, there was blood.

"Oh dear." It was then that the Guild Master motioned for Maze to come over. "I can't believe that we didn't do this earlier," the Guild Master scolded himself. "Now Jetta, don't be afraid. Maze here is going to cast a will spell called Heal on your throat." Jetta nodded her understanding. "Okay, good. Now, Maze. If you would?"

Maze started walking towards Jetta. She laid her head back on the pillow, trying to relax. Having someone else's hands near her throat so soon after remembering what had happened, she couldn't help but feel uneasy. Luckily for her, instead of actually putting his hand completely on her throat, he was hovering over it. She could see a white light coming from where his hand would be. At the same time, she could feel a heavy tingle spreading through her throat, then throughout the rest of her body. Then as suddenly as it began, the tingling stopped.

"There you go. Now you should be able to talk," the Guild Master smiled again. Jetta looked towards Maze, then back towards the Guild Master.

"Thank you sir," she said, her voice coming out smooth and clear. The Guild Master looked at her, and then to Maze and smiled.

"Did you know that you can do that same thing?" the guild master said looking directly at Jetta. She had a surprised look on her face.

"Oh it's true," this time it came from Maze, "Do you remember when your father was suddenly off of you," Jetta slowly nodded. "As the Guild Master has already said, it was not me who did that. You did something that we know as a Force Push. It makes an invisible force shield that will throw and damage anyone close enough that your mind considers an enemy. Usually, it is a hard spell to master, there are some who never even mange to do it. You however, sent your father flying so hard that it killed him." At this Jetta cringed. She had never killed anyone before. The thought scared her, even if it was an accident.

"Maze and I have talked about it, and we all would like for you to join us here, at the guild," Jetta hung her head down in thought. It wasn't like there was anywhere else that she could go to. Her home was destroyed, her family gone. And now she even killed someone. The people here were willing to look past all of that. Also...

"Thank you sir, for your generous offer sir. I would be glad to accept it. I just would like to know one thing,"

"Yes dear, what is it?" the guild master asked, looking puzzled.

"Well, every person in Albion knows of the guild. I just want to know if I'll be able to receive training while I am here?" she asked, truly wanting to know. The guild master laughed. Even Maze had a amused smile.

"Of course!," he told her, making to small girl smile again.

Maze butted in, "Why else would we want you to stay here if you couldn't be a Hero?" He smiled warmly at Jetta and placed one of his big hands on her shoulder. "That is of course you think that you can handle it." Him and the Guild Master shared a knowing look. "Apparently, I am a scary teacher."

Jetta thought about it hard. Would she really be able to withstand all of that? Or would she be able to surpass it all and still come through. She looked the Guild Master straight in the eyes. "Yes sir. I know I can handle all of it. I want to do this." The Guild Master smiled.

"Wonderful! We'll start your training as soon as we know that you're better." The Guild Master started to tell her of all the adventures she would have, and despite everything that had happened, Jetta smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Fate Unchanged: A Fable Story Chapter Two **

"No. Do it again," Maze said carelessly. He then swung the wooden training sword, hitting Jetta hard on the thighs.

Her legs almost dropped out from under her, again. "You can't just expect to me to know what I'm doing wrong. You need to tell me what it is that I'm not doing correctly," Jetta bent over rubbing her overly abused legs. That earned her another strike to her legs. Luckily, this one was lighter. Now she kept her irritated eyes trained at the wood dummy ahead of her.

"Precision is the key Jetta. Now spin kick. I want you to attempt to decapitate it." He kept his eye on her feet. She readied her stance, placing her right leg back. This time, she promised to herself, she tried her hardest to aim for what would be the cheek bone. The wooden dummy was filled with rocks and straw and was brutal to her un-protected feet. Maze had her remove what remote foot protection that she had had earlier what he called feet conditioning. Her feet were already raw and bleeding in places. It only made the thought of impact that much more frightening. Before Jetta could actually make contact though, Maze swept her back leg out from under her. The sudden impact of the hard ground took her breath away.

"You move to slow. Any opponent would have already chopped off your head. We need to work on your speed." He looked up towards the sun. "Later. Go wash up and get dinner." Maze gave her a half smile. "You are getting better though. I hope you understand just why I'm so hard on you." He didn't give her a chance to respond before walking towards his office, though she doubted that he really wanted an answer anyway.

Jetta was still laying on her back, contemplating never standing up again when a small hand appeared in front of her face. "Advance training was a bad idea huh?" It was Snow, one of the few students that Jetta actually talked with. Jetta just let out a snort.

"No it was a lovely idea. I can hardly believe that not everyone does it," the sarcasm dripped out of her mouth. This just earned a light laugh from her friend.

The truth was, though, that Jetta had requested advance training. After a quick decision, Maze and the Guild master agreed that one on one training would be the best choice. It just wouldn't do to have the seventeen year young women in a class with children only around the age of ten. Most of the others who were her age were almost ready to graduate. Some already had.

Jetta grabbed Snow's hand graciously, and sat up being careful of her feet. It was then she could see what was in Snow's other hand. A pair of cloth slippers.

"I could kiss you right now!" Jetta exclaimed, quickly grabbing them. She wiped of the excess dust and rocks that stuck to her feet before putting them on. This had become their nightly routine. Jetta was always happy for the help. And while the thin cloth wouldn't stifle the already existing pain, they would help keep more gravel from getting in.

"You know, this place has changed you," Snow noted to her friend. "For the better, at least." They made their way to the dining hall, Jetta had her arm around her shorter friends shoulders for support. "When you first came, you wouldn't talk to anyone save the Guild master and Maze. Not to mention how clumsy you were or how easily you were spooked." Jetta gave her friend a gentle smile. It had taken a while, but Jetta finally told Snow what had happened at Oakvale. Snow tried to keep her happy by making light of it. "Vanessa is still scared of you, you know." At that, Jetta let out a true laugh.

The first week after Jetta arrived, she was having vivid nightmares every night about Oakvale. Vanessa, who had already taken a disliking to her, decided to try and do something about the whimpering one night. In her nightmare, Jetta was at the part where her father was attacking her. When Vanessa had got close, her unconscious body took over, again, and Force Pushed her clear across the room. She was okay, luckily, as she had landed on someone who was sleeping a few beds down. The girl she had landed, was now Jetta's best friend.

"Let's hurry up, I'm hungry," Jetta said. The quickened pace would hurt her feet, but the thought of food helped her to ignore it.

As the two entered, a few looked up to see who was coming in so late, but quickly dismissed the pair. It was a welcomed change from when Jetta had first arrived. It seemed that everyone was talking about her. "She's to old to be here." "Did you hear? She's already killed someone. We have enough bad heroes."

The smell of lamb brought Jetta out of her thoughts. Snow held a plate under her friends nose, teasing her. "I thought that you were hungry? Here's your plate. Lamb, some potatoes, and you're water," Snow poured herself a glass of mead. They were allowed to start drinking at fifteen if they wanted, and almost all of them did. "I'll never understand why you don't just drink like a normal person." Everyday, she made fun of her for it, at least one.

"Like I've told you, I don't want to be impaired." Jetta took a few moments to eat more food. "There's no telling when Maze will show up to train," At this, both girls thought back to night when he decided to train right before bed and well into the night.

"Well, let's finish eating so we can go heal your feet a bit." Snow, who had been here for many years, was recently taught the healing spell. It had become part of the routine, for Snow to heal up her minor wounds every night. Thankfully, she wasn't bad and had really improved. The first time, though, had been a nightmare, ending in more blood than when she had started.

"So how hard is it? To do the spells?" Jetta questioned Snow, who had just finished the right leg and was getting ready to work on the left. Luckily, Snow had gotten rid of most of the wounds.

"Well it's not to hard. It just takes concentration. You have to really want to do." Snow hovered her hand above Jetta's foot. "And when I do the spell, I just think about what's hurt and imagine it how it's supposed to be. How I want it to heal." Her hand started to glow. After a moment, when the glow went away, most of the visible damage had gone away. "It's pretty simple, actually. I keep wondering why it isn't the first spell that we learn."

"It's to stop students from acting foolishly. If they believe that they can do what ever they wish with no physical consequences, they'll never learn about repercussions." It was Maze. He had snuck up behind the two of them. For such a big man, he was very quiet.

To Snow, he was still very much a teacher. A scary one at that. She gave a quick apology, and excused herself saying something about her studies. She hadn't even finished healing Jetta's legs.

Sighing to herself, Jetta pulled her left foot towards her thigh. Maze's eyebrow quirked. "What are you doing?" He asked. Jetta kept her eyes on her foot. "Are you ignoring me now?" Though she couldn't see it, she could feel him raise his eyebrows again at her curt nod. After a few moments of silence, her hand had started to glow, and her foot began to tingle.

When she pulled her hand away, she wasn't surprised to see her scratches gone. But she was surprised to see that everything was. The areas from earlier this evening had left, along with those that Snow couldn't quite heal before. Even pre-existing scars from her childhood were gone.

"Well done Jetta," Said Maze, a small smile on her lips. "I was wondering how much longer it would take for you to at least try it." He came over and examined her foot. "Good job. You did very well." She just shrugged her shoulders.

"I suppose if I can kill someone with a force push, this isn't anything," she said and pulled her other leg towards herself. When she set to work on that one, she was able to start working instantly. Once finished, which was very quickly, she wiggled her toes. A smile graced her face. Her feet felt better than they had in ages.

Maze played with his wisp of a beard for a moment. "Well I suppose this means that you're ready for your will power training. We can start that tomorrow morning." He turned to leave. "Oh and go ahead and relax tonight. Get some sleep," then he smirked, "You'll need it." Finally, he left the room, leaving Jetta to her thoughts.

For the four months that she had been at the Guild, not once would Maze train her in the power of will. He would just say, "Not yet, you're not ready for me to teach you." Apparently, all it took was for her to try for herself.

Since there was still time before bed, Jetta went and found Snow inside of the library. "I don't know how that man doesn't scare you," Snow said to her friend when she walked in, "For Avo's sake, he could pick us both up. With the same hand!" she exaggerated while moving her arms wildly.

"Well," Jetta said, taking a seat next to Snow and opening a book about how to be stealthier, "after he hits and smacks you a few times, you just start to see him as a nuisance." Snow shook her head, smiling. Jetta smiled back, keeping the fact that she didn't mind his presence to herself.

Snow flipped a page out of her book, something about archery, and started to talk absently. "His skin still gives me chills. I wonder if the glow keeps him awake at night?" She paused, "What if it glows everywhere?" Her eyes widened as she thought about it. "That would just be too weird." She laughed as she shook the thought from her head. They stayed in the library for a while longer until the bell chimed, saying that it was time for bed. Luckily, the two shared a room to themselves, most were to scared to sleep near her after the Vanessa incident. As the two went to bed, Jetta's head was full of thoughts of the magic she would be doing.

Jetta was abruptly woken up by someone throwing a small glass of water over her face. Jumping out of bed, she could see Maze standing in front of her, the evidence still in his hand. "What the hell was that?" she asked, obviously pissed about being woken up so rudely. "Couldn't you have just prodded me or something?" She stood up and wiped the water from her face with her sleeve. Taking a moment, she looked towards the window. There was no sun shining through, just the moonlight. "And I thought you said I could sleep?" She directed to him, smoothing her long dark hair from it's jumbled mess.

"I told you to get some sleep. You should have went straight to bed." Even if it were pitch black, it wouldn't take anything to find him. Jetta couldn't be sure if the magic patterns that covered his body kept him up like Snow suggested, but he did actually glow in the dark. "Now get dressed. You'll want to put on some cool clothes for today. It's supposed to get very hot this afternoon." The ice blue lines that sat lightly on his cheeks was the main indication of his smirk.

"Great," She mumbled to herself, walking to her trunk to pull out her clothes. The main outfit was made of a heavy material and would be much to warm if he was right. Searching through her chest, she came across a small grey shirt that hugged her top tightly, but didn't have any sleeves. It would work. She then pulled out a pair of brown pants that were loose around her legs and stopped right below her knees. Without even thinking about it, she didn't even look for shoes. Chances were that he wouldn't let her wear them anyway. Taking a minute to braid her hair in a plait, she tried to decide if she was excited or dreading the day to come. Excited seemed to overrule.

As she made her way down to the small clearing where the students were taught how to use there will power, she kept an eye out for Maze, prepared to dodge any sneak attack that came her way. Since it was fairly dark still, the sun wouldn't start it's journey into the sky for at least an hours time, she kept a carefully eye out for the tell tell blue glow. All she could see though, was the Demon Door.

"Well good morning to you young one," It greeted her with a smile. The first time that she had seen the door, she almost screamed. What kind of magic could do something like that? But soon after, he became one of her good friends.

"And good morning to you Arios. I hope you had a good night. Were the frogs annoying you again?" Jetta asked, throwing her water canteen next to one of the wooden dummies that were already placed firmly into the ground.

"As always, but there isn't much that I can do being just stone and what not," the giant door said with a chuckle. Arios' eyes shifted behind her to look up at the new comer. "Ah, I should have known that you would be out here to join her Maze. You never give the poor girl a break." Maze just strolled up towards Jetta. He too had his shoulder length platinum blond hair back in a braid. His dress was similar to Jetta's as well, except he was wearing long pants instead.

"Hello Arios," Maze greeted, "And don't worry about Jetta, she doesn't mind."

Jetta looked at Maze, but had a smile on her face. "I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end." She understood why he was as hard on her as he was. Jetta was so far behind, that if he were to go soft on her, she would never catch up. So truthfully, she didn't mind. At least for the most part. She still didn't like having to wake up so early. Or the small amounts of abuse to her poor feet, thighs, and ribs. But beside that, she actually enjoyed it. Something that she never would admit to Snow. Snow would only think that she had lost her mind.

"Quite," Maze cleared his throat. "Well let's get started. I didn't wake you up this early to stand around and talk." He moved into the center of the island. "We'll start with the simple one. Lightning." To demonstrate, he attacked all three of the dummies at once, a terrifying light left his hand. The feeling in the air changed dramatically. It made the small hair on Jetta's skin raise up like only the cold could. Maze turned back to Jetta, "Go ahead, and take a try."

Arios whispered to Jetta, "You can do it, you're more of a natural then anyone I've ever seen." It was a small vote of confidence, but it did help.

She followed Maze to the middle and faced the wooden figures. "Just try to channel your anger towards it. Imagine it leaving your hand in the form of the lightning." Maze said, placing a hand to the small of her back, the other grabbing her right hand and pointing it toward the target. "You'll pick it up quickly. Just try not to fry it." If Jetta was paying more attention, she would have seen the smile, instead of thinking he was mocking her.

"Maybe I will just to spite you," she quickly retorted.

She focused on the straw man in front of her. It was poorly put together, and someone had burnt it with improperly cast spell. This was different from the healing spell. This was offensive. Something that she wasn't used to. How would she be able to attack that? It was just a defense object. She knew that it wouldn't be able to feel anything, but it was still strange to want to harm something that would never hurt her.

Holding her hand out more firmly, she tried to see in her mind, the dummy and her hand being connected by the arch of lightning that she hoped would come out of her hand. After a moment she held her breath. Then a feeble strike of lightning landed in the center of the target. Jetta stared in awe. She did it again. Another spell, and it came fairly simply. It was easy to say, she did not expect Maze's tone of voice.

"No, you can do better than that. That's would be something like how a beginner would do." He seem disappointed, as if he expected something bigger.

"Well, I sorry. It's not much of a target," Jetta said walking to it. She gave it a small tap with her foot. "The healing spell was easy. It was to help, not harm." She looked to the tree line, looking for the lighting of the skyline. "When I did it to my father, I was scared for my life. It was completely a defensive reaction."

Maze stood there and thought on her words. He then made his way back to her side. "Well how about this then," he placed his hands back to were he placed them last time, firmer though. "I want you to picture that dummy as your father. Imagine that it wants to kill you. If you do not kill him, he will kill you."

The new train of thought did help. Jetta went through the same process, but this time, it was her father standing before her, his wicked smile on his face. "You're helpless little girl. Mommy isn't here to save you." Before the 'image' could get any further, lightning exploded from the palm of her hand. The power was not something that she would ever have expected. It felt like a cool fire was playing on the tips of her fingers. Having no reason to expect such a tremendous change, even Maze had been surprised, it shocked her into dropping the connection. She was surprised to see that she had indeed, fried the poor dummy. She tightened up, getting prepared for the yelling she was bound to receive. But it never came.

"That was brilliant! Bloody brilliant!" Maze exclaimed, giving her a heart-felt smack to her back.

Jetta looked at him sheepishly. "You're not mad? You told me specifically not to fry it," she then looked, ashamed, at the ground. "I'm sorry that I can't really control it yet. Hopefully, it'll get better."

Maze just gripped her shoulder, "It was just a joke. The Guild has hundreds more! Fry up as many as you like!" Finally, Jetta let her smile come back. Glad to know that she wasn't in trouble, she asked what they would do next. "I want you to do it to me of course," He told her, as though it was obvious. Jetta stared at him as though he was crazy, though he very well could be.

"I can't do that to you! Are you mad?" Her eyes were wide, her voice trembled slightly. Maze gave her a slightly annoyed look of his own.

"What do you think that you are here to learn? How to hunt rabbits?" He asked. "No. You are here to learn how to kill. How to bring pain on those that you wish." He then stood straight in front of her, looking into her eyes. "You are here to be a Hero. Not some sniveling child."

It was as though something had clicked in Jetta's head. He was, of course, right. She had wanted to do the advance training so she could leave here quicker. To avenge her Mother, and the rest of Oakvale. And in order to do so, she would need to hurt, even kill, a lot of people.

Jetta stared straight back at Maze, not to be anything intimidating, but to show that she understood, and that she was no longer scared. "I'm sorry. You're right. I'm still acting childish. There is much at stake here, and I'm acting like spoiled, sniveling school girl." Maze looked her over once and gave her a small nod.

"Well then," He moved to stand in front of the, now fried, dummy. "Attack me."

Jetta didn't need anymore than that. Quickly, she raised her hand, and willed the blue lightning to strike. Almost as if it was in slow motion, she watched as the lightning continued to get closer and closer. Before it made contact though, Maze had made a shield around his self, to protect him for the lightning. When she put her hand down, her fingers still felt like they had played with a cold fire, she looked to Maze to see if she had done right. She already knew the answer before she could see the approval on his face.

"That! That right there!" He exclaimed. "I want you to do it like that every time, do you hear me?" His bright blue eyes shone with an excitement of his own.

Jetta looked at him, content. "Thank you Maze." Maze gave her a questioning look. "For bringing me here," She took a look towards the pinks and purples of the new sunrise, one that she might not have seen if it wasn't for him. "For saving me." She then gave him a genuine smile, one that had not seen her face in many months.

Maze's voice had caught inside his throat. He had not expected that. "Yes, well," He started. Jetta couldn't be sure if it was the the color from the sunrise, but it appeared that Maze had started to blush. "That's enough gibbering. Come on! Strike me again," He commanded. Jetta could tell, though, that it wasn't as harsh as he had used to be. Maybe now that she was going to be serious about it, he would take her more seriously. She looked one last time towards the sun rise. Maybe this was the true beginning. Jetta turned back to Maze, a small smile on her face. She was planning on taking full advantage of it.


End file.
